Friday 12 March 2021

New Texts & Translations: Catechism of Race & Articles

Now available: six articles and one book, including 5 translations into English.

The first article concerns Italy, Serbia and Dalmatia. This was written by Mussolini at a time when he was still a socialist, prior to the official birth of the Fascist movement, and was written just six weeks before Italy's entry into World War I. It was also written prior to the events and episodes which took place between Italy and the Yugoslavs after the end of that war, such as the Incidents of Spalato (1918-20); the Entente's violation of the Treaty of London, the Mutilated Victory and subsequent diktat of Versailles (1919); the Fiume Enterprise (1919-20); the renunciatory Treaty of Rapallo (1920); and the annexation of Arbe to Yugoslavia (1921), all of which strained Italo-Yugoslav relations and would later shape Mussolini's thought and policy.

The second is a brief response to common anti-Fascist misconceptions, written in 1938 by Dr. Guido Mastracchio. The third article concerns notions of Romanità and Latinità in response to French intellectuals. It was written by Massimo Scaligero, an apparent Fascist writer who, after World War II, entered the realm of esoteric quackery and claimed that he had always been apolitical rather than an ideological Fascist.

Then there are two Italian-language articles: one concerning totalitarianism and the penal code, the other concerning the end of democracy and capitalism. Translations into English will be published at a later date. The last article concerns the defection of the celebrated general Giovanni Messe to the Allies, written by an anonymous Fascist in 1943. Finally, there is a brief catechism on Fascist racial views published by the National Fascist Party (PNF).